Eric Malnic, retired Times reporter was 73 *

Eric Malnic was a longtime mainstay of the Los Angeles Times Metro staff, as an assistant city editor and rewrite man on big stories, and late in his career as the paper's specialist on airplane crashes. He worked at the Times for 47 years and may have been number one in seniority (certainly close to it) on the editorial staff when he retired. Malnic died at home in Altadena on Tuesday night after a lengthy illness. The paper says it will put up an obituary shortly.